The inaugural flight of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter took place Friday at 12:44 CST at Lockheed Martin’s Forth Worth, Tex., production facility. Company chief test pilot Jon Beesley noted in a company release that the new fighter...

Engineers at Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee have spent six years participating in F-35 Joint Strike Fighter development and testing, states an AEDC news release. The center has logged about 10,000 hours on the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine...

The Air Force late Friday issued a statement noting the service had released an updated request for proposals for the tanker replacement program, called KC-X. Air Force acquisition chief Sue Payton confirmed that USAF has delayed release of the final...

The Air Force has flown a B-52 with a blend of synthetic fuel and JP-8 jet fuel powering all eight of the bomber’s engines. In September, the service successfully flew the B-52 with the synfuel-blend in just two engines. This...

On his last day as Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld sent one last “snowflake” announcing the “blizzard is over.” His dispatch of thousands of memos, asking for answers and seeking action—usually tagged with aggressive deadlines—over the past six years became one of his signature trademarks. This last snowflake absolved those who had yet to respond to his latest flurry. Rumsfeld invoked the “spirit of the season” and offered a “general amnesty for any outstanding snowflakes.”

President Bush, who presided over the final ceremony ushering out the only Defense Secretary who has served two Presidents, said of Donald Rumsfeld, he is “one of America’s most skilled, energetic, and dedicated public servants.” He remarked on Rumsfeld’s naval...

After resolution of a software glitch on one of two satellites that had delayed the inaugural launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, Orbital Sciences’ Minotaur I launch vehicle boosted into orbit USAF’s TacSat-2 micro satellite and...

South Korean officials continue to evince concern over the US timetable for moving American forces to a central location just south of Seoul—primarily expressing dismay about the cost sharing burden. Stars and Stripes reports that a South Korean defense official told Yonhap news that Seoul cannot meet the 2008 timetable and believes five years is more realistic. Washington and Seoul have been wrangling for months over the transfer of control of forces in South Korea and an equitable cost sharing agreement. The recently concluded cost sharing agreement to fund 2007-08 costs elicited a statement of concern from the USFK commander, US Army Gen. B.B. Bell, who said the 2007 level would meet less than 41 percent of costs.

The Air Force Academy plans to open a facility in Pueblo, Colo., joining forces with the Air Force’s Doss Aviation-run initial flight screening program. The academy conducts its own IFT at the school’s airfield but plans to use the Pueblo...

Gen. Peter Schoomaker, Army Chief of Staff, testified before a Congressional task force that the Army “entered this war flatfooted.” He told the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves Dec. 14 that, at the beginning of the war on...

USAF and Canadian forces completed the largest-ever Combat Hammer air-to-ground weapons systems evaluation earlier this month, featuring A-10 Warthogs from Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., B-52 bombers from Barksdale AFB, La., and CF-18 Hornets from Cold Lake AB, Canada. The participants gathered...

The Air Force has designated the Air Force Research Lab’s Active Aeroelastic Wing flight demonstrator the X-53. An AFRL release notes that this is the first X-plane initiated within the Air Vehicles Directorate since the X-24 lifting body concept. The...

Airmen from the 7th Weather Squadron’s Det. 7 at Grafenwohr, Germany, recently trained to forecast avalanches in Arabba, Italy, reports Stars and Stripes. Both Air Force and Army commanders in Europe felt the training might be useful for US forces...

Dec. 14, 2006 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 15 8 23 CAS/Armed Recon 48 32 80 Airlift 140 140 Air refueling 33 33 Total 63 40 173 276 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance